


The Schuyler Sisters

by forestknifefight



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Foster Care
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 10:01:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8620078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forestknifefight/pseuds/forestknifefight
Summary: Eliza, 12 years old, sat in the backseat of her caseworker’s minivan. Next her her was her only suitcase that held all of her clothes and at her feet was her backpack that held all of her personal items. She stared out the window at the passing scenery of early autumn in New York.





	

Ten o’clock in the morning on a Saturday was when Eliza was going to meet her new foster parents, Philip and Catherine Schuyler. The Schuyler’s were going to going to be her fourth family in a year.

Eliza, 12 years old, sat in the backseat of her caseworker’s minivan. Next her her was her only suitcase that held all of her clothes and at her feet was her backpack that held all of her personal items. She stared out the window at the passing scenery of early autumn in New York.

“Elizabeth, honey?” Mrs. Johnson said from the front seat. Eliza looked toward her.

“Yes?”

“I hope you and the Schuyler’s get on well.”

“You do?”

“Of course. You’re getting older and, well, the older you get the less likely you’ll be adopted and I, more than anyone else but not more than you, want you to be adopted. I’d feel so horrible if you had to age out of the system and be all on your own.”

Eliza was silent for a moment.

“Thank you, Mrs. Johnson.”

Mrs. Johnson smiled. “We still have a long way to go. Are you going to miss Hamilton?”

“No. Well, I guess. My last three families were in the same area so I got to stay at the same school for seven months,” Eliza said. She was picking at the skin around her fingernails. A bad habit, her last foster mother told her to stop. She couldn’t.

“Albany is a beautiful city. Capital of New York. I think you’ll like it.”

Eliza hummed a response.

Another hour passed and Mrs. Johnson said they were half an hour away. After that last half hour, the car was pulling into a driveway. Mrs. Johnson put the car in park and turned to face Eliza.

“Are you ready?”

“I guess.”

“Let’s go.”

Mrs. Johnson shut off the minivan and got out to get Eliza’s suitcase. Eliza unbuckled her seat belt and slipped out of the car with her backpack on her shoulder. Mrs. Johnson was at her side a few moments later and pointed toward the front door. Eliza looked up at the house, it was decent size and beautiful. Eliza was a little afraid to go inside, not knowing what she’d find.

“Elizabeth?” Mrs. Johnson was already halfway to the front door. Eliza nodded and hurried to catch up to her.

When they reached the door, Mrs. Johnson knocked. A women yelled that she’d be a minute from the other side of the door. Eliza looked up at her caseworker, who looked back at her with a smile.

The door opened and Eliza and Mrs. Johnson looked to the door. A middle aged woman opened the door with lovely dark skin and long, curly, dark hair.

“Hi, I’m Catherine, please come in both of you,” The woman - Catherine - said with a smile. Mrs. Johnson allowed Eliza to walk into the house first.

Eliza stepped onto the tiled floors and looked around. There was a pristine sitting room just to the right of the front door. Just beyond that was the staircase that lead upstairs, then the dining room. Then a wall. Then a hallway leading to what looked like a living room with a large TV. Eliza looked back to Catherine, who was simply smiling at her.

“You must be Elizabeth. Hi,” Catherine said, holding her hand out. Eliza took it with a smile.

“Hi. You have a beautiful house.”

“Thank you. Just wait until you see the rest.”

“So, Mrs. Schuyler, can you and I talk for a moment?” Mrs. Johnson said.

“Of course. One moment please,” Catherine turned toward the staircase, “Angelica! Peggy!” She looked back to Mrs. Johnson.

Moments later, one girl came running down the stairs in a white and yellow outfit while another girl walked carefully down the stairs in a mostly pink outfit.

“Elizabeth, these are my daughters, Peggy,” the girl in yellow, “and Angelica,” the girl in pink. “Girls, this is Elizabeth. Why don’t you two show her to her room.”

“Okay, Mom! C’mon, Elizabeth!” Peggy jumped forward and grabbed Eliza’s wrist, pulling her up the stairs, Angelica just behind them. They approached the first door and Peggy stopped. “This is our bathroom, you’ll use this one.” They moved forward to the next door. “This is Dad’s office, we aren’t allowed in there.” Just across the hall was another door. “This is Angelica’s room.” The door next to the office. “This is your room. Mine’s right across the hall and the room,” the door at the end of the hallway, “is mom and dad’s room.”

“Okay,” Eliza said.

“She speaks,” Angelica said.

“Sorry,” Eliza said with a chuckle, “I’ve never had such… enthusiastic foster siblings.”

“Peggy, why don’t we let Elizabeth settle down in her room?” Angelica said, tugging on Peggy’s wrist.

“You can call me Eliza. Elizabeth feels clunky to me,” Eliza said.

Angelica and Peggy were silent for a moment.

“Noted, Eliza. Peggy, let’s go.” Angelica pulled Peggy into her room. Eliza turned to her bedroom door and opened it, walking inside.

The bedroom was overwhelmingly white. White walls, white carpet, white bedding. It was a little much for Eliza. She placed her backpack on the desk and began inspecting the room. The closet doors were full sized mirrors that slid open to reveal a few empty hangers. Then it was the desk, painted white with a single lamp on it and white painted chair slid under it. A large window with the blinds closed and lacking curtains. She ran her hand on the bedspread; it was embroidered with something, Flowers, she thought. A nightstand next to the bed with a second lamp on top. The back of the door held two hooks. Next to the door was a small, three drawer dresser. Then a four shelf bookshelf. Then the closet again. Eliza stood in the center of the room, looking around. It was quiet.

Until someone knocked on the door.

Eliza yelped in fear. The door opened and Catherine was there.

“Oh, Sweetheart, did I scare you?” She asked, her hand on her chest.

“No, I’m fine.” Eliza said.

Catherine smiled and looked around the room. “Sorry it’s so… white. When I was looking for things to put in here just until you put things up, Angelica told me that white was a more neutral color an easy to work with.”

Eliza hummed a response and glanced around her. “It’s nice,” Eliza said, quietly, “I just don’t have a lot of stuff.”

“You don’t?”

Eliza looked back at Catherine. “I have one bag of clothes and everything that isn’t clothes is in that backpack.”

Catherine looked past Eliza at the desk. “Well, speaking of your bag,” Catherine slid Eliza’s bag into the bedroom, “Here you go, Elizabeth.”

“You, you can call me Eliza.”

“Okay, I’ll be sure to do that,” Catherine smiled, “I’ll let you get settled.” She closed the door as she left the room, leaving Eliza alone again.

\--

That evening, Eliza was putting things from her backpack into the desk when Angelica knocked briefly and opened the door. Eliza turned to look at her.

“Dinner is ready,” Angelica said. Eliza nodded and followed her out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

In the dining room, Peggy was already seated with a plate of food in front of her. The seat next to her was set with a plate of food. The seat at the head of the table held a man that Eliza didn’t recognize, but she assumed he was Catherine’s husband. There was a seat next to him and across from the empty one next to Peggy that was set and the seat at the opposite end of the table was set.

Eliza looked to Angelica who took the seat next to Peggy. Eliza took a deep breath and walked around the table to the seat next to Catherine’s husband. She sat down and looked at Peggy. Peggy smiled at her.

“Dad, look! Eliza is here!” Peggy said.

Catherine’s husband looked up from his phone at Peggy then to Eliza.

“You go by Eliza?” He asked.

She nodded.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eliza,” he held out his hand for her to shake, “Philip Schuyler.”

Eliza shook Philip’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Catherine came out of the kitchen from an entryway that Eliza hadn’t noticed before. She sat at the end of the table opposite of Philip and held her hands out to Peggy and Eliza. Peggy took her hand willingly, joining hands with Angelica, who took Philip’s hand who was holding her hand out to Eliza. With only slight hesitation, Eliza took both Catherine’s and Philip’s hands and bowed her head.

Philip said the prayer. “Dear Lord, thank you for this family and this wonderful meal. Thank you for letting Eliza come into our home for however long it may be…”

Eliza was held up on the second thing Philip had said. He thanked God for her. That was new. That had never happened before. Sure, she had stayed with religious families before. Mostly Christian families and a few Catholic families. They had never thanked God for her before. The Schuyler’s must be very religious then, she thought.

“...Amen,” Philip finished, everyone else repeated the word. Eliza even muttered it under her breath.

“So, Eliza,” Philip began. Eliza looked up at him instantly. “Have you stayed with religious families before?”

“I have, just not recently. Why?”

“You seemed a little… caught off guard,” Catherine said.

“I was,” Eliza admitted.

“Well, just so you know, we go to Church on Sunday mornings and we say a prayer before dinner every night,” Philip said.

“Okay,” Eliza said.

Eliza and the Schuyler’s ate dinner with very little conversation directed at her. After dinner, Eliza helped Peggy and Angelica clean up the leftover food and do the dishes. When that was done, The three girls joined Philip and Catherine Schuyler in the living room.

Peggy squeezed herself in between Philip and Catherine on the couch who simply accepted her presence. Angelica took the reclining armchair, extending the footrest. Eliza sat on the loveseat.

Catherine noticed how far away Eliza was and patted the cushion next to her. “Eliza, do you want to sit over here?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“Okay.”

Catherine turned her attention back to the television where some movie that Eliza didn’t recognize was playing.

\--

Angelica showed Eliza how to work the shower and offered her two towels to use. She took a quick, too hot shower and changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth. She hurried to her room when she was done in the bathroom. She sat at her desk and took out her journal. She wrote out her entire day. Meeting the Schuyler’s, dinner, the movie after dinner.

When the door opened behind her, she slipped the journal and pen into a desk drawer. She turned and saw Philip and Catherine.

“Bed time,” Catherine said. Eliza nodded and stood up. She pushed the desk chair under the desk went to the bed, pulling down the bedspread and slipping into bed under it.

Catherine sat on the edge of the bed by Eliza’s legs.

“So, Church tomorrow. Maybe after, you, me, and the girls can go shopping? Get you some little things to put around the room?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. Lay down.” Eliza did as she was told and Catherine straightened out the bedspread and helped to make her comfortable. “Good?”

Eliza nodded.

“Goodnight, Honey,” Catherine said.

“Goodnight, Eliza,” Philip said.

“Goodnight,” Eliza said.

Philip and Catherine shut off the light and closed the door, leaving Eliza to slowly drift off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm yelling, I hope this is good.
> 
> There's no set updating schedule but I hope to have one by Saturday.
> 
> I'm also yelling because I didn't know what to write about for the longest time and I finally found a plot and it's Eliza centered because she deserves it.


End file.
